The effective and efficient management of company data in
today’s competitive world is critical.
People and information are the two most important assets of any
organization, with data growth expected to be around 50% - 80% per year
compounded, according to a recent Gartner report.
“Two out of five enterprises that experience a disaster go out of business
within five years”. (Gartner)
ITSthe1 can show you how to manage your storage effectively using the very
latest disk management software products. We can demonstrate how to improve
efficiencies through storage virtualization thereby lowering the total cost
of ownership (TCO) through the consistent automated management of
heterogeneous environments.
Our engineers apply real-world expertise to optimally integrate our storage
and content delivery solutions with your business processes. We will ensure
that your storage solution fits your needs and performs effectively, even in
the most dynamic and complex environments.
Much of the computing power of general servers is wasted in file server
operations, which makes it a very poor investment. According to a study
conducted by Carnegie Mellon University most servers require 25% of
available CPU cycles for file I/O. Being a file server has everything to do
with the [input/output] data path, not computing power. This means that
having the right storage solution improves the performance of the complete
file server system.
There are three common type of storage systems available.
-
Direct Attached Storage (DAS):
This is the traditional method of locally attaching storage to servers in
which the communication path between the server and storage is dedicated.
The direct attached storage system may be just disk drives, a RAID
sub-system, or other storage device. The server typically communicates with
the storage sub-system using a block interface.
-
Storage Area Network (SAN):
In this method a dedicated storage network is designed specifically to
connect storage, backup devices, and servers. This dedicated storage network
may be consolidated in a single box or cabinet, or span a large number of
systems and geographic locations. A SAN is connected behind the servers and
presents a block level interface to the outside. The file system resides in
the server.
-
Network Attached Storage (NAS):
Here a storage device is directly connected to a network that presents
industry standard network file system interfaces like NFS, and SMB/CIFS over
TCP/IP. NAS devices provide a file level interface to the outside, and use a
block level interface to either tightly coupled or loosely coupled storage
subsystems. The file system resides in the NAS appliance.
Keeping files on a server in a format that is accessible by different users
on different types of computers lets users share data and integrate various
types of computers on a network. This is a key benefit for NAS systems.
Because NAS systems use open, industry standard protocols, dissimilar
clients running various operating systems can access the same data. So it
does not matter if there are Windows users or UNIX users on the network.
Both can utilize the NAS device safely and securely.
NAS products provide many benefits over other disk storage subsystems.
Benefits include:
• Lower maintenance costs
• Faster data response times and application speeds
• Higher Availability and Reliability
• Enhanced Migration of existing data
NAS products have found their way into the enterprise as companies look for
alternatives to costly and challenging to manage direct-attached storage
(DAS). NAS products have also become the perfect complement to highly
capable storage area networks (SAN). The integration of NAS and SAN has been
a huge development in the networked storage world, offering customers
flexible solutions that allow them to stretch their storage dollars.
From a business perspective, it is no longer an either or proposition.
Companies and government agencies need the value NAS and SAN bring them. It
is critical that businesses consider the value of both as they develop their
storage strategies. Their decision to deploy a NAS system, SAN architecture,
or consolidated network storage solution should be based on a careful
analysis of the requirements and design goals.
This is where ITSthe1 comes in. Our highly qualified technical team will
assess your requirements, analyse and implement the most cost effective
solution for your needs.
Cluster Solutions
A "Cluster" or "Cluster Solution" is a group of servers managed as a single
system to obtain the added benefits of performance, redundancy and
scalability. A cluster provides fault tolerance and maximized uptime for the
applications that are essential to an enterprise.
In today's 24 x 7 global enterprises, high availability is critical. Few
businesses can tolerate extended downtime, and companies that conduct
revenue producing transactions across a network can't afford to lose
applications or data for even a few seconds. That's why more and more
companies are relying on industry standard platforms and advanced systems
management tools for higher levels of system availability at a reasonable
price.
Clustering can address several issues:
- High Performance
- High Availability
- Scalability
For people who need high performance, instead of buying
larger and larger (and very expensive) servers to handle ever more demanding
tasks, the power of many cheap computers can be concentrated on solving
problems: the computers work smarter (in parallel), not harder. These
clusters are called high performance clusters. (And still have availability
rates higher than 95%).
High availability is required for companies needing their server or
applications be running more than 99.99% of the time. As no single hardware
components can be trusted at 100%, backup computers are used to take over in
case of failure. The original and backup computers are a high availability
cluster.
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